Botanical Name - Trichosanthes tubiflora (Wight & Arn.) H.J.de Boer


Group:

1 Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) - I - Dicotyledons

Family:

Cucurbitaceae

Genus:

Trichosanthes

Common sinhala name:

Wel-kekiri

Habit:

Creeper

Origin:

Native

National conservation status:

LC - Least Concern

Legal status:

Similar species:

All vernacular names:

Trichosanthes tubiflora (Wight & Arn.) H.J.de Boer

Contributors for Images:

Aruna Yasapalitha, Jecob de Vlas (ID-JdV)

Perennial. Stems very slender, furrowed, shortly hairy to subglabrous. Leaves: lamina 2.5—6.5(—11) x 2.5—6(—8.5) cm, ovate-cordate, narrow to moderate sinus at base, apex acuminate, acute, shallowly to somewhat deeply 3—5-lobed or occasionally subentire, lobes acute or obtuse, margin dentate, each tooth terminated by mucro c. 0.5 mm long, apical mucro up to thrice as large, scabrid above with coarse, tubercle-based hairs, indumentum of softer, long, white simple hairs beneath. Petiole 1.5—4 cm long, softly pubescent with short, white hairs intermixed with very much longer, patent, white, coarse, tubercle-based hairs, Inflorescence racemose, flowers white. Male flowers in short, stalked, umbellate racemes; peduncles up to 4.5 cm long, bracts 2 mm long, linear-filiform; pedicel 5—6 mm long; calyx lobes 1—1.5 x0.15 mm, linear-subulate, tube c. 1 cm long, minutely pubescent, sparsely long hirsute; corolla tube 1.5 cm long, lobes 7—8 x 3.5—4 mm, broadly ovate- to obovate oblong, apex obtuse to subacute, narrowed at base. Female flowers: calyx and corolla lobes similar to male; ovary c. 3.5 x 0.75—1 mm, densely hairy. Fruit red, 4.5—5 x 1 .75 cm, ovate-ellipsoid, tapered at each end, finely, sparsely hairy; mature fruiting pedicel (1.5—)3—5.5 cm long. Seeds c. 7 x 4 mm, somewhat oblong, smooth, blackish. (FOC)
Gymnopetalum wightii Arn.


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